The Meaning of LTD: What It Is and How To Use It

What does the acronym LTD mean? This article will tell you the various meanings of LTD and then teach you related information about the term LTD.

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You might have seen the letters LTD appear after a business or company name, like “Business Name Co. Ltd.” But what does this acronym stand for? This article will teach you about the various meanings of the acronym LTD and related information. 

What Does LTD Mean?

According to Investopedia, the abbreviation LTD is short for “limited.” This term is often used to refer to a type of corporate structure. You can find businesses in a limited legal structure in commonwealth countries like the United Kingdom and Canada. 

In this type of company structure, shareholders are limited to the capital they had when they originally invested. If the company dissolves, they still retain their original personal assets. There are two types of limited company: a private limited company and a public limited company (PLC). 

In a private limited company, shareholders buy into the company through private sales, not the stock exchange. The company directors are employees who do not necessarily need to be one of the company’s shareholders.

A public limited company can choose whether it wants to be listed on the stock exchange or not. However, these types of companies are under strict regulation that forces them to share reports about their financial health to shareholders.

Some people think that a limited liability company (LLC) is also a limited company, but this is a different type of entity. Other types of business structures include sole proprietorship or a limited partnership. Every type of business has different tax advantages, a number of shareholders, and more.

What Are Other Meanings of LTD?

LTD can stand for much more than just limited. This acronym has many meanings depending on your field or subject matter. If you are talking about business, someone will likely use LTD to mean limited. However, if the subject is something other than business, it might stand for one of the below acronyms.

Take a look at the below word list from The Free Dictionary to see which acronyms you might have heard before. In your field, does the term LTD stand for something specific? 

  • Learning Technology Development (various locations)
  • Logan Transit District
  • Learning through Discovery
  • Long Term Disability (insurance)
  • Long-Term Depression
  • Leadership Team Development
  • Last Trading Day
  • Logic Technology Development (Intel)
  • Land Treatment Demonstration
  • Lane Transit District (Eugene/Springfield, OR bus system)
  • Lembaga Teknis Daerah (Indonesian: Regional Technical Institute)
  • Light Toned Deposit (planetary science)
  • Learning Technologies Division
  • Logistics Technical Documentation/Data
  • Long Term Debt (accounting/finance)
  • Local Transfer Directives
  • Lincoln Traditional Design (automobile)
  • Low-Temperature Drying
  • Local Telephone Division
  • Lecture Theatre D (various locations)
  • Low Threshold Detection
  • Long-Term Desensitization (physiology)
  • Language Training Detachment
  • Living the Dream
  • Local Test Desk
  • Local Telecommunications Division
  • Linear Transformer Driver
  • Learnable, Teachable, Duplicatable
  • Linguistique Théorique et Descriptive (French: Theoretical and Descriptive Linguistics)
  • Lift-to-Drag (aviation ratio)
  • Logical Topology Design
  • Long Term Dynamics
  • Laser Target Designator
  • Low Temperature Differential (Stirling engine)
  • Life to Date
  • Live Test Demonstration
  • Letter to Doctor
  • Love to Death
  • Leave and Transit Depot (Australia)
  • Limiting Throughput Distribution
  • Left to Do
  • Love Togetherness and Devotion (band)
  • Local Telecommunications Division (Sprint)
  • LingvoSoft Talking Dictionary (software)
  • Log Total Depth (energy measurement)

What Are Translations of LTD?

Limited is not a term that is exclusive to business, and many different languages have their own translations of the word limited. To learn about these limited translations, check out the below list from Nice Translator! With this list, you can talk about things that are limited with new people worldwide. 

  • Slovak: obmedzený
  • Catalan: limitada
  • Basque: mugatu
  • Welsh: chyfyngedig
  • Icelandic: takmörkuð
  • Polish: ograniczony
  • Filipino: limitado
  • Czech: omezený
  • Arabic: محدود
  • Korean: 제한된
  • Finnish: rajoitettu
  • Malay: terhad
  • Bengali: সীমিত
  • Tamil: வரையறுக்கப்பட்ட
  • Russian: ограничено
  • Chinese (Taiwan): 有限的
  • Amharic: ውስን
  • Telugu: పరిమిత
  • German: begrenzt
  • Portuguese (Brazil): limitado
  • Urdu: محدود
  • Ukrainian: обмежений
  • Greek: περιορισμένος
  • Japanese: 限定
  • Vietnamese: giới hạn
  • Slovenian: omejeno
  • Hebrew: מוגבל
  • Swedish: begränsad
  • Norwegian: begrenset
  • Marathi: मर्यादित
  • Estonian: piiratud
  • Malayalam: പരിമിത
  • French: limité
  • Gujarati: મર્યાદિત
  • Turkish: sınırlı
  • Dutch: beperkt
  • Swahili: Imeshindwa
  • Portuguese (Portugal): limitado
  • Danish: begrænset
  • Latvian: ierobežots
  • Kannada: ಸೀಮಿತ
  • Chinese (PRC): 有限的
  • Croatian: ograničen
  • Spanish: limitado
  • Thai: ถูก จำกัด
  • Romanian: limitat
  • Serbian: ограничен
  • Hindi: सीमित
  • Indonesian: terbatas
  • Hungarian: korlátozott
  • Italian: limitato

What Are Synonyms of LTD?

If you use the abbreviation LTD to mean limited, people will probably think you are referring to a type of business. Instead of creating confusion with the abbreviation LTD, you can use a synonym of the word limited instead.

Below, Power Thesaurus provides a list of synonyms for the word limited. So, if someone does not know what you mean by the word limited, or if you are looking for a word with a different connotation than limited, you can use one of the below synonyms of limited. 

  • bound
  • bounded
  • circumscribed
  • conditional
  • confined
  • constrained
  • constricted
  • cramped
  • curbed
  • deficient
  • defined
  • definite
  • delimited
  • exclusive
  • express
  • finite
  • in short supply
  • inadequate
  • insufficient
  • insular
  • less
  • limit
  • limiting
  • little
  • local
  • lower
  • meager
  • minimal
  • modest
  • modified
  • narrow
  • only
  • paltry
  • partial
  • poor
  • provincial
  • qualified
  • rare
  • reduced
  • restrained
  • restrict
  • restricted
  • scant
  • scanty
  • scarce
  • short
  • slight
  • small
  • sparse
  • special
  • tight

What Are Antonyms of LTD?

To refer to something unlimited, you can use one of the below antonyms of limited from Power Thesaurus. Things that are the opposite of limited are abundant, expansive, and far-reaching. 

  • absolute
  • abundant
  • big
  • boundless
  • broad
  • complete
  • comprehensive
  • endless
  • epidemic
  • expansive
  • extensive
  • free
  • general
  • immeasurable
  • immense
  • inclusive
  • indefinite
  • infinite
  • large
  • limitless
  • multitalented
  • one-size-fits-all
  • overarching
  • sweeping
  • total
  • unbounded
  • unconditional
  • unlimited
  • unrestricted
  • vast
  • widespread

Conclusion

LTD stands for limited, which is a type of company or corporation. While this is the most common meaning of the acronym LTD, there are several other definitions of this versatile acronym.

Sources:

  1. Limited Synonyms | Power Thesaurus
  2. Limited Antonyms | Power Thesaurus
  3. Limited | Investopedia   
  4. LTD | The Free Dictionary